This week we had the privilege of visiting Africa Heartwood Project.  It is an orphanage in a rural area near Monrovia.  Rufus & Victoria, the managers, are Liberians who spent some time in Ghana during the war and have returned to Liberia with several orphaned children.  We were impressed by the cleanliness and orderliness of the compound.  It is obviously well managed.  Everyone has chores to perform and they all learn practical skills like cooking, baking, sewing and gardening.  They go to a nearby school through grade six and then they continue their education at a school that is about an hour's walk away.  The orphanage recently received their accreditation from the federal government and now can take in some more children.  We believe they have twelve residing there now. 

This is the library where they can study. They have a computer they can use when the generator is running.(which isn't often as fuel is very expensive)  There is no electricity in the area.  Two of the young people demonstrated their drumming skills on these Ghanean drums.  They are great sounding drums, by the way.

They have a dug well on their property which gives them clean water for drinking and washing.  There is no running water in the area.  As you can imagine, cleanliness is very important when many people are living in close quarters. 



The pantry inside the cookhouse.  The white containers on the right contain palm oil that is produced locally from palm nuts. 

This is the food preparation area

Fish cleaning party outside of the cookhouse.  Fish are readily available at the street markets but the purchaser has to clean them. 

Rufus displays the oven where they bake bread and cinnamon rolls.  I understand their baked goods are very tasty.  We hope to sample them one day.  They burn charcoal in the bottom of the oven to produce the heat for baking.

This is the open air dining hall.  The table appears to be large enough for everyone to be seated at the same time.

The gathering room outside of the library building.  It is used for meetings and evening devotionals.  The young people all participate in the devotionals.

The hygiene station or latrine/shower room.  Notice the space between the gutter sections.  This allows rain water to fill the water barrels which is then used for flushing the toilets

Victoria and Rufus are soft-spoken and kind.  They seemingly have the perfect temperament for managing the orphanage.  Their son Gordon, is five years old and is the youngest child at this time.  

 

 




 

 

 HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

TO MOTHERS AND MOTHERS HELPERS EVERYWHERE

 



         Motorcycles are used to transport anything the passenger can hold onto, like a new mattress.

Not exactly aerodynamic, but what the heck.  It gets the job done.  There is a passenger behind the door holding onto it.  You can see his hand on top of the door.

 A couple of times we have seen a parent with three children on one motorcycle taxi.  The smallest child was sitting on the gas tank.

       Some people like to see where they're going and some people like to see where they've been.

 

One thing we have noticed about the children here in Liberia is that they are hard workers and have jobs to do starting at a very young age. These boys were in charge of clearing the area around their home. They were burning brush and tending the fire. We see children carrying heavy loads on their heads and pulling wagons loaded with supplies. The children go to school for half a day and then we see them working and playing. They always seem to be happy.

 

 

Dinner is served! This is an example of how people carry things on their heads. When we saw her we had to look closely at what she was selling and then we noticed that what she was carrying was crawling over the side of her bowl. Snails anyone?

Today we met Honorable Joyce Freeman Sumo, Senior Senator for Montserrado County. LDS Charities has done a lot of projects to help provide clean water and sanitation in her district. It was a pleasure to meet with her and we will have the privilege of working together on upcoming projects.

 

 

This week we visited a small fishing village. There were colorful boats and nets all around on the beach. We were lucky to be there just as they were bringing a boat out of the water. No boat launch here.  It was amazing to watch the men work together as a team to bring it in.

This is 12 year old Frank, our self-appointed tour guide at Hotel Africa.  A quiet, considerate young guy, he sort of attached himself to April and I, finding shells on the beach and even digging a live crab out of the sand, at some peril to his fingers.  As we were leaving, I handed him 20 Liberian dollars and he was thrilled with it.  I am a little embarrassed to admit that 20LD is worth about 17 cents US.  He told me his village doesn't have a latrine, so we will go back and talk to the community elders to ascertain if their village would be a good location for LDS Charities to build one.